Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Most of the people have forgotten to use screensavers on PCs, but some who want aesthetically pleasing and unique experience, can’t stop using screensavers. Electric Sheep is one of the best screensaver software used by thousands of people all over the world. It is free, open source tool which installs and uninstalls without issues.

What is Electric Sheep?

Electric Sheep is a joint abstract artwork founded by Scott Draves in 1999. The main intention is to recreate the biological phenomena of evolution and reproduction through mathematics. It is a form of artificial life that is made up of man and machine, a cyborg mind with 450,000 computers and people participated all over the internet.

The participating computers worked together to form a supercomputer that renders animations called “sheep”, that is visible to everyone. The human participants voted for their favorite animations in the flock.

The “sheep” are developed such that they follow specific mathematical instructions called “Draves’ Flame algorithm”, to render its own piece of the larger work. The images are sent back to a main server which are converted into animations and are sent back to the viewers.

How does it Work?

When you activate Electric Sheep, a sheep gets alive and for every 15 minutes a new sheep is born and distributed to all clients for display. Each sheep is an animated fractal flame. The duration of each sheep is 4 seconds. The sheep’s shape, motions, and color are specified by a genetic code, a long string of numbers. Users can vote for the active sheep and the one which gets more votes will live longer and more likely to reproduce. Each sheep is downloaded and displayed within a minute.

Electric Sheep’s new version is available for download which supports Mac OS X, Linux, iPad and Android. This program is recommended only if you have a high-bandwidth, always-on connection to the internet such as DSL or cable modem.Download

Sunday, October 27, 2013

When surfing the internet, you might come across great quotes from famous personalities, articles excerpts, blog postings, research data, interesting facts, or your own thoughts and ideas. You copy this information to Notepad, MS Word or WordPad. You may wish to gather all this information, organize and retrieve them whenever needed, using a notetaking program. CintaNotes is a free, lightweight and user-friendly notetaking program for Windows, used especially for saving and tagging any useful information that you come across or just need to jot down.

CintaNotes is a simple yet powerful application with an intuitive interface. A small form is used to note down the important information. The note preserves a title, a tag, and set of links to online resources. The note(s) can be customized with the help of available features. You may select one of the emphasis options such as bold, italic, underline, strikeout. You can highlight the important areas and create bullet or numbered lists. You could also insert timestamps to the notes.

Once completed, the list of created notes is listed in the app’s interface with creation time and date. You can customize each note such that it is under a different section, which makes it easy to differentiate between important and not so important notes.

The new version 2.3 has added a new feature for search option “Search across field boundaries” and added confirmation dialog to merge command. It has improved some features such as hyperlink support, editor, and simplenote sync. And also fixed some of its features related to recycle bin, Esc key handling, HTML export, editor, CN crash, valid license, and imported tags are not assigned.

Key Features:

A free, lightweight and user-friendly note taking application that saves and tag any useful information.

Clip text from anywhere by pressing the hotkey using text-clipping that automatically saves the text and its source URL without installing a browser plug-in or add-on.

Retrieves information as soon as you start typing the title or the URL.

Organize note information with powerful tagging system and later use tag union, intersection and subtraction filters to quickly find what you need.

Simplenote Synchronization (PRO version only) – You can get full read/write access to your notes on any iOS, Android or Windows Phone device.

Also comes as a portable version, which you can carry on a flash drive and run it directly on any computer without installing.

Launch at system startup

CintaNotes is also available in PRO version that includes advanced features like multiple notebooks, unlimited number of tabbed sections, expandable tag tree, exporting notes to HTML, pasting notes into other applications, and accessing notes from mobile devices. The PRO version license can be purchased for $25 which includes 12 months of free updates and zero adware.

Coming to its free version, it has some limitations like it can create only up to 3 sections, simplenote sync is disabled, and cannot link notes with each other. Although it has some restrictions, the free version definitely proves to be useful on a daily basis. Any inexperienced individual will find it useful and easy to handle. Download CinteNotes installer or portable versions for free from below link.Download

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Norton Internet Security 2014 is the latest edition of the internet security suite from Symantec (Norton). Its power-packed features make it one of the most effective internet security suites available in the market. It offers complete online security as well as protecting your child’s safety with parental control feature – Norton Family. It offers protection from online threats, social media scams, network invaders, viruses, malware, spyware and spam. Besides providing you complete online safety, your PC’s performance will not be compromised; moreover it boosts performance and stability.

If you want to utilize parental control feature comprehensively, then you should purchase it and that’s one of the main drawbacks in Norton Internet Security 2014. Other limitations include 30 days trial version with nag screen.

Automatically sends you the significant product and feature updates and installs the latest version without your involvement.

Enhanced protection and performance

What’s Improved?

SONAR Behavioral Protection & Live 24x7 Threat Monitoring

Bandwidth Management 2.0

Installation and Interface:

A pre-installation scan is performed before installing the actual product in Norton Internet Security 2014 version, because an unprotected machine has threats that would disable antivirus. Pre-installation scan detects basic malware and eliminates them perfectly, while it has difficulty in removing rootkits or MBR infections during pre-installation. Whereas, the actual installation of the product goes smoothly with no computer restart once it is done.

Coming to its Interface, the minor changes made are effective, while the rest of the things remain same. As it compatible with Windows 8 OS, the touch-enabled systems feel more comfortable in accessing the interface.

Key Features:

Norton Insight, identifies which files are safe and dangerous using the feedback of Norton user community.

There are more useful tools such Scam Insight, a Password Manager/Form Filler, Network Monitor, Bootable Repair Disc, and other performance-related tools. The Password Manage now supports drag and drop facility that you can search for logins directly from the toolbar. The interface is more obtrusive than the previous one. The improved behavioral detection protects you from never-before-seen threats.

In the list of top internet security softwares, Norton Internet Security 2014 doesn’t stand in the competition, although it is highly-efficient in providing online security and minimal impact on PC performance. Download Norton Internet Security 2014 30-day trial or purchase full version for Windows 8, 7, Vista and XP operating systems.

Sunday, October 20, 2013

FocusWriter is a highly capable and easy to use a Fullscreen word processor with uncomplicated, distraction-free writing experience. It uses a hide-away interface that you access by moving your mouse pointer to the edges of the screen, letting the program have a familiar look and feel to it. The hide-away interface allows you to immerse yourself in your work completely.

FocusWriter is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux operating systems, and has been translated into many different languages. FocusWriter 1.4.4 is the latest version that has added Indonesian translation by Eka Y Saputra and fixed few bugs.

The specialty of FocusWriter is its full-screen view and hide-away interface, that improves focus on work and increase productivity. Other significant features like Autosave, Goal-tracking, Formatting, Spell Checker, and Find & Replace too have made FocusWriter a different word-processor altogether.

Using FocusWriter, you can write several documents or take simple notes without being distracted by the interface. The interface is simple to use where the users have the possibility of adding and managing files via the File menu.

Key Features:

Fully Customizable Themes

Supports TXT, basic RTF, and ODT files

Daily goals

Timers and Alarms

(Optional) Typewriter sound effects

(Optional) Auto-save

(Optional) Live statistics

(Optional) Spell-checking

Multi-document support

Sessions

(Optional) Portable Mode

Translated into over 20 languages

Word-processing giant, Microsoft Word dominated for many years, but there are some good alternatives like FocusWriter which encourages focus and productivity, making it a versatile word processor. FocusWriter comes as both installer and Portable version, where you copy on a USB drive and run it on any compatible Windows PC. It supports Windows 8, 7, Vista, XP and 2000 OS versions.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

AVG Antivirus Free 2014 is the newest version from AVG (Anti-Virus Guard) Technologies. It delivers excellent protection against malware attacks and offers secure search and secure file shredder. It is quick and accurate antivirus tool which provides high-quality antivirus features for free. It personates your online and offline information, keeping away from intruders and thus prevents spying and data theft. The new Secure File Shredder leaves no traces of deleted files behind. It improves your PC performance and helps to run smoothly.

As AVG Antivirus Free 2014 a free edition, you can get only basic protection for surfing, searching and social networking. For regular online activities, the free edition is more than enough.

The latest version 2014 v14.0.4142 has laid big importance on privacy when you are surfing the internet. The new File Shredder permanently deletes files that can’t be accessed or recovered again. It ensures that your personal information is kept safe and private. User-friendly interface provides easy access to AVG’s free mobile apps. The detection rates are improved to guarantee that your personal data doesn’t get into the hands of cybercriminals.

Installation and Interface:

AVG did not remove the toolbar in AVG Antivirus Free 2014, as the users are annoyed with browser toolbars and they want a clean browsing experience. But, AVG’s toolbar has the valuable security option – Do Not Track, which is also available as a free standalone add-on on Firefox and Chrome. So, users can download it separately from their respective stores. The installation time still remains the same as of AVG 2013.

Coming to its interface, AVG has made minimal changes to the 2014 edition, keeping the rest of the things similar.

Social Networking Protection – Checks the links that get exchanged when using Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites.

Do Not Track – Comes with AVG Security Toolbar that lets you identify which websites are gathering your online activity information and prevent them if suspicious.

Turbo Scan – Improves scanning process and increases speed.

Smart Scanner – Scans only when your PC is idle i.e. on low priority mode. The files that are already scanned are ignored to reduce scan times.

Considering AVG Antivirus Free 2014 a free version, it provides solid PC protection with basic security features yet robust, which are not present in most freeware security softwares. Download AVG Antivirus Free 2014 for free from its official website.

Monday, October 14, 2013

Kaspersky’s latest version of internet security comes with quality computer protection from all existing and emerging internet threats, ensuring you are secure at all times. Internet-specific transactions performed via online banks, PayPal, and e-commerce sites are even safe as it offers exclusive tools such as Safe Money and Secure Keyboard. Because, the growth in web-based activities have also led to growth in internet security risks concerning your personal information. Kaspersky Internet Security 2014 is optimized for high performance so that you can use the internet at its peak.Kaspersky Internet Security 2014 delivers powerful security and offers a hassle-free computing experience. The cloud-based Kaspersky Security Network collects data related to new, emerging and unknown threats from millions of participating users' systems around the world, to safeguard your PC from the latest viruses and malware attacks. Potential internet threats are supervised and analyzed in real-time and are blocked away totally before they infect your computer.

New Features:

The new version 14.0 has added many modern features like,

Trusted Applications mode, which allows only reliable applications to run.

Screen-locker protection that detects and removes the threat of screen-unlocking.

The Installation process takes less time than its predecessors, but compared to Norton, AVG and Avast, it consumes a bit more time. A restart may be required in some cases depending upon the user system configuration.

Kaspersky Internet Security 2014’s design made nominal changes to its GUI. It has been much cleaner, uncluttered look compared to the Kaspersky 2013 version. Windows 8-like buttons are placed to support touch-enabled systems.

Cloud-based protection – Delivers a quick response when an emerging threat is found. It uses the cloud-based Kaspersky Security Network (KSN) to collect information about new malware threats from millions of PC users.

Improved Parental Controls – Controls for Internet Usage and Social Networking; Prevent the sharing of private data; Predefined User Profiles; Game ratings based on the child’s age, game type and content.

There are different scan types – Full, Critical, Vulnerability and Custom scan. “Safe Money” feature allows you to add bank or payment system website and relevant description. You can run that particular website in a protected browser, prompt for action, or do not run the protected browser.

There are a few useful tools from Kaspersky Internet Security 2014 like Vulnerability Scan, Kaspersky Rescue Disk, Windows Troubleshooting, Privacy Cleaner, and Browser Configuration. With Kaspersky Rescue Disk, you can create a bootable CD or USB flash drive containing a set of tools for efficiently detecting and eliminating computer infections. You can either download ISO image form Kaspersky Lab server or copy ISO image from local or network drive.

Summing up everything, we can say that Kaspersky Internet Security 2014 is an excellent choice for regular internet users that protects you from online malware and phishing attacks. Parental Control and Application Virtualization are the additional things it offers. You can download Kaspersky Internet Security 2014 30-day trial version or purchase the full version for $60. It is supported in Windows 8, 7, Vista and XP operating systems.

Friday, October 11, 2013

KeePass is a multi-platform, free, and open-source password management utility developed mainly for Windows OS systems. It lets you to manage all your passwords using strong AES and Twofish encryption algorithms and stores them in a highly-encrypted database. The database is protected with one master password or key file. The database consists of a single file that can be transferred from one system to another effortlessly.

If you have a huge number of online and offline accounts, it’s difficult to remember them all. And due to security concerns, you need to use different passwords for each account. You require password management software to remember all these user credentials, store them in a database in a secure way.

With KeePass Password Safe Professional, you can drag and drop passwords into any other window. The auto-type feature fills your login information automatically. It can import data from various formats like CSV, CodeWallet TXT and CounterPanes PwSafe. Also the password list can be exported to TXT, HTML, XML and CSV files.

KeePass’ latest version 2.23 includes new features like Password Quality Estimation algorithm, improved configuration loading performance, enhanced Input/Output connection problem diagnostics, improved single instance checking on Unix-like systems, and various other improvements. The status bar is now updated correctly after sorting by a column.

The database allows you to enter the fundamental login details such as account description, user, password and website address. You can create new fields in you want and enter the relevant details. The application also lets you attach any file such as images, text files and HTML files to an item from the database in order to view them quickly.

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

UltraVNC, shortly called as uVNC is a free open source application that is used to control another computer with your own PC remotely over a network or internet connection, using the VNC protocol. You can use the input devices like mouse and keyboard to control the other PC remotely. UltraVNC is majorly used in companies to quickly access customer’s computer from anywhere in the world and resolve helpdesk issues remotely.

VNC stands for Virtual Network Computing, is a graphical desktop sharing system that utilizes the Remote Frame Buffer protocol (RFB) to remotely control another computer. UltraVNC allows anyone to create VNC connections between two or more computers running the application. Although it is easy to use, it is not recommended for beginners. The process involves installing the client on one computer and the Server on another, and this should be done remotely. One who has enough knowledge in configuring their PC network settings should be able to set up a VNC connection using UltraVNC.

The latest version 1.1.9 is missing screen refresh when driver selected but not used and Factory reset when temp was not writable. The installation is quite simple who has basic network configuration knowledge. It prompts to choose how exactly you aim to use UltraVNC, as a server, as a client or both.

Key Features:

Control another computer with your own PC, replicating the remote computer’s display.

Compatible with all VNCs and should follow the RFB protocol, allowing for easy cross platform desktop sharing.

Has Optional DSM Encryption that secures communications between the viewer and the server, reducing the hacker-attacks that are common in remote screen-sharing.

You can transfer files to and from the remote computer using “SingleClick” remote client module, eliminating the need for emailing files to the client.

UltraVNC’s latest version runs under all Windows operating systems except Windows 8. Its embedded Java viewer allows you to connect from a simple web browser on any system supporting Java to an UltraVNC server.

UltraVNC is especially designed for people who are at Help desk (Internal/External), IT departments, Remote Computer support companies, Remote Computer Access, Remote demonstration, eLearning, classroom control, and individuals who want to assist their family and friends.

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Want to turn your Windows 8 & 7 laptop into Wi-Fi hotspot and make a virtual Wi-Fi router? Then, download ‘mHotspot’ software which creates a secure Wi-Fi hotspot with no installation required. A single internet connection can be shared with multiple devices such as Laptops, Smartphones, PDAs, iPads, etc. The internet connection could be a LAN, Ethernet, Data-Card, 3G/4G, Wi-Fi or any other kind. And most importantly it requires no additional router or external hardware apart from your existing one.
mHotspot is an absolute free tool and comes very handy, when you want all your devices to be inter-connected. The only issue with this tool is it requires an existing internet connection i.e. it uses bandwidth from your existing mobile data plan only.

If you are not at home and about to have a mobile broadband capable laptop, mHotspot comes into play. When you need to access the company network from your personal laptop while at work, this can be great. It does entail an existing internet connection so as for it to work.

How to Connect?

When you launch the application, you can enter Hotspot name, password, select the type of internet connection and set the maximum number of clients. After entering all the details, click “Start Hotspot” button to turn your Laptop to virtual wifi router.

Thursday, October 3, 2013

PowerDirector 12 is one of the best premium video editing software developed by Cyberlink Corporation which allows you to capture, edit, and produce professional videos with powerful video editing tools. It has provided several tools to improve and edit projects quickly. The Magic tool like ‘Magic Movie Wizard’ helps you to edit movie with transitions and effects. The Multicam editing with up to 4 angles is great, while you can edit 3D and 4K resolution videos easily and produce great videos. You can directly upload the edited videos to popular video sharing sites and even transfer directly to mobile devices. It has huge online community resources for support.

Cyberlink PowerDirector 12 is the easiest and quickest way to create and share your home videos with the help of "Theme Designer”. You can simply choose the set of built-in stylish 3D-animated templates, import your media files into one of the templates, and instantly turn them into professional videos.

PowerDirector 12 includes over 100 media editing tools and more than 400 built-in effects, which will aid you to create amazing videos. The processing and rendering speed is faster compared to the previous versions. With the help of TrueVelocity 4 Engine, the H.264 encoding is 40% faster and the Intel 4th Generation CoreTM Technology allows users to experience 3 times faster rendering with AVX2 technology.

There are five different versions in PowerDirector 12 – Deluxe, Ultra, Ultimate, Ultimate Suite, and the complete Director Suite 2. If you want to have complete video and photo editing tools for creative professionals, get Director Suite. The MultiCam Editing feature is not available in the Deluxe version.

Design Studio Tools, brings stylish design to your video creation and gives you more control over video effects. ‘PiP Designer’, intends its animation with the convenient timeline interface. ‘Title Designer’, customizes title designs with different font types, color gradients and animated effects. With ‘Particle Designer’, you can design your own particle effects using your own graphic objects and the built-in animated effects. Finally, with ‘Menu Designer’, you can personalize menus with titles, chapters, particles, and PiP objects to suite your own unique style.

The interface is so easy to learn and intuitive. The new editing mode selection interface gives you great control over video editing which includes 100-track video interface, MagicMovie for instant video creation, and stylish photo slideshow creation.

You can produce DVD discs with stylish menu, transfer them to all multimedia devices, or share directly to social site such like Facebook, YouTube, DailyMotion, Vimeo and NicoNico Douga. You could browse thousands of free effects and templates, watch free tutorials on DirectorZone, the largest video editing online community.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Norton finally came up with the 2014 stable release, the latest and full version which is more effective in removing malware, phishing attempts, and malicious software than its previous editions. Norton Antivirus 2014 includes new features such as Threat-removal layer, regular updates to product version and free 24x7 support. The behavioral protection & live 24x7 threat monitoring feature are improved along with bandwidth management 2.0.

Norton Antivirus 2014 stops online threats when you browse, shop and bank online. It protects you from social media and networking scams and blocks infected as well as dangerous downloads from the internet. The new version identifies more complex types of malicious code, both existing and emerging online threats.

Installation and Interface:

The installer for Norton Antivirus 2014 checks for basic issues of your computer and solves them immediately. It doesn’t ask for a system restart which most of the modern antivirus softwares also do the same. The computer restart would result in virus infection and sometimes disable antivirus protection. The first update takes a lot of time to download and install all the files, once the installation is done.

The interface has to be the main problem for Norton Antivirus 2014, which is not clean enough to navigate. Although, the interface is same as the previous 2013 version, the fonts, color combination are not up to the mark. It is compatible with Windows 8, and thus made for touch-enabled systems. The system security status shows you the CPU usage and Trust Level percentage of your computer security. You can update quickly and customize settings directly from the main interface itself.

There are four scanning modes in Norton Antivirus 2014, namely Reputation or Computer scan, Quick scan, Full System scan, and Custom scan. The Full System scan consumes more time checking every single file on your system, using a moderate computer resources. It also offers Repair Tool and Facebook Wall Scan in addition to the four scanning modes. You can schedule scan i.e. run at a specific time interval, daily, weekly or monthly basis. You can customize the schedule such that it runs only when the computer is idle.

Key Features:

Norton Insight – Identifies files and applications and filters them accordingly as safe and dangerous, using the feedback of more than 175 million Norton users.

SONAR Behavioral Protection – Perceives the signs that a file is dangerous to proactively protect you from never-before-seen threats.

Live 24x7 Threat Monitoring, is supported by a network of Norton users who serve as your own personal Neighborhood Watch group.

Internet Protection System, searches websites and social networking sites for distrustful links and content to spot the latest social scams.

Norton Antivirus 2014 does a good job in cleaning up malware-infested computers, but not very effective. The “Scan Insight” lets you know whether a website is safe to browse depending on the reputation from the Norton cloud. The “Network Mapping and Monitoring” shows all the devices connected to your home network, so you can spot unauthorized guests using your wireless connection and eavesdropping on you.

"Norton Pulse" updates virus definitions every 5 to 15 minutes without disturbing your regular work. The “Built-in Intelligence” maximizes your Laptop battery life by disabling non-critical activities until you are plugged in. The “Norton Power Eraser” scans your computer and removes hard-to-remove virus infections. The “Norton Bootable Recovery Tool” creates a rescue CD, DVD or USB that gets your PC running like new one, even if it is completely infected.

You can download Norton Antivirus 2014 15-day trial version with nag screen or purchase the full version which is more effective. Norton Antivirus 2014 has improved detection rates and repair abilities, while the enhanced password manager is also useful. Apart from its 2013 version, the latest edition has no tremendous changes.